Quote by Ronald Fisher
To consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of.
Summary
This quote emphasizes the importance of including a statistician during the planning and execution of an experiment or study. Waiting until the experiment is over to consult a statistician is like asking them to perform an autopsy on a failed experiment. The statistician can indeed analyze the data and determine what went wrong, but involving them early on can help in designing a rigorous experiment and make sure that the research questions are properly framed, leading to more valid and reliable results.